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| Volume 6, Issue 4 |
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In This Issue:
 Taming the Alpha Exec
Is your boss a psychopath?
 Guilty, but not over
Why your boss is overpaid
Why do the rich keep working?
 The Buck stopped here
Making your (Power) Point
 Building a platform for growth
Five guidelines for using statistics
Low prices = more customers? Not always
Moving beyond debate: Start a dialogue
Four strategies for making concessions
 Try before you buy
What’s the boss worth?
Flirting with disaster recovery
Binomial creep
 Has advertising killed itself?
 2006 Career and Compensation Survey
Asset-Based lending goes mainstream
CPM climbs to higher ground
 Getting your body beach ready
When society gets in the way of sexuality
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Taming the Alpha Exec
Alpha Phyla
Alpha males and females come in four high-achieving flavors,
each with dangerous weaknesses that can overpower its strengths.
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Ambition, self-confidence, even a little bloodlust--all can be part of a great
biz leader. They can also wreak havoc on an organization. Now, for the executive
from hell, help is on the way. His name is George.
He's a vice president at Cleveland's Eaton Corp. And he's a recovering alpha exec.
It took him three years at Eaton to admit that he had a problem. It took another
year for him to commit to doing something about it. Months of professional probing
and coaching later, George T. Nguyen is learning how big a jerk he
has been--autocratically dispensing orders through his administrative assistant,
for example--and how little loyalty he has inspired. That psychic hurdle cleared,
he's starting down the path to becoming a guy you'd actually want to hang out
with--and a more effective executive. Says Nguyen now: "I have to work at this
every day, every week, every month, because it's not a natural tendency for me.
I'm 45 years old. If I don't make the change now, I won't have the incentive
to change." You may be wondering when being an alpha exec became enough to warrant
an intervention. For generations, after all, alpha characteristics have pretty
much been prerequisites for success in American business--and most other endeavors.
Are ambition, self-confidence, and competitiveness really so bad, especially when
there are billions of dollars and thousands of careers at stake? The trouble
is, there's a dark side to those traits we revere in bosses, a side that many
just can't resist...
Read the article. Back to top
Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
Odds are you've run across one of these characters in your career. They're
glib, charming, manipulative, deceitful, ruthless -- and very, very destructive.
And there may be lots of them in America's corner offices.
The Factor 1 psychopathic traits seem like the playbook of many corporate power
brokers through the decades. Manipulative? Louis B. Mayer was said to be a better
actor than any of the stars he employed at MGM, able to turn on the tears at will
to evoke sympathy during salary negotiations with his actors. Callous? Henry Ford
hired thugs to crush union organizers, deployed machine guns at his plants,
and stockpiled tear gas. He cheated on his wife with his teenage personal assistant
and then had the younger woman marry his chauffeur as a cover. Lacking empathy?
Hotel magnate Leona Helmsley shouted profanities at and summarily fired hundreds
of employees allegedly for trivialities, like a maid missing a piece of lint.
Remorseless? Soon after Martin Davis ascended to the top position at Gulf & Western,
a visitor asked why half the offices were empty on the top floor of the
company's Manhattan skyscraper. "Those were my enemies," Davis said. "I got rid
of them." Deceitful? Oil baron Armand Hammer laundered money to pay for
Soviet espionage. Grandiosity? Thy name is Trump...
Read the article. Back to top
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Guilty, But Not Over
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A federal jury in Houston today found former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and
Jeffrey Skilling guilty of securities fraud in the collapse of the once
high-flying Houston energy company.
The four-man, eight-woman jury convicted Lay and Skilling of misleading investors
with false statements designed to hide Enron's tottering finances. Lay, 64,
was convicted on six counts of conspiracy and fraud. He faces up to 45 years in
prison. Sentencing will take place on Sept. 11.Skilling, 52, was convicted on 19
of 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud, insider trading and making false statements.
All told, he faces a maximum of 185 years in prison. He was found not guilty on
nine criminal counts.The convictions follow 14 weeks of trial, which included
testimony from 54 witnesses. Bond for Lay was set at $5 million, and before
leaving the courthouse, he was ordered to surrender his passport. Skilling's bond,
which he posted with a cashier's check, had been set previously at $5 million by
U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy. On the courthouse steps, Skilling denied that
he committed any crime. "We fought the good fight--some things work, some things
don't," he said. "Obviously, I'm disappointed [by the verdict]. That's the way
the system works. "The case was a key test of the government's effort to
prosecute executives...
Read the article. Back to top
Why Your Boss Is Overpaid
It is a typical "Dilbert" strip. The boss announces, "Our CEO has voluntarily
slashed his pay from $6 million per year to $4 million.
In a written statement, he said he wants to 'share the pain.' Do you feel better
now?" A downtrodden intern replies, "I make my underpants from sandwich bags."
But that's office life, is it not? Bosses make obscene sums of money, while
downtrodden cubicle slaves toil almost without reward. It might seem insane,
but economists have a surprise for us: The insanity reflects nothing more than
cool economic logic. There is method in the madness. The ugly truth is that your
boss is probably overpaid--and it's for your benefit, not his. Why? It might be
because he isn't being paid for the work he does but, rather, to inspire you. In
other words, we work our socks off in underpaying jobs in the hope that one day
we'll win the rat race and become overpaid fat cats ourselves. Economists call
this "tournament theory." After all, managers find it hard to spot an
excellent performance. It is a rare job where workers can be fairly paid according
to some objective criteria...
Read the article. Back to top
Why Do The Rich Keep Working?
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Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself
on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's
duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it."
Peter followed that advice for much of his career, but today he might beg to differ
with Emerson. ("Peter" is a pseudonym, but his story--and that of other
wealthy workaholics--is very real.) The son of a modest Texas farmer, Peter wanted
a bigger, grander life than his father led, and he worked hard to get it. By age 30,
he was running a regional bank and had a wife and two kids. Over the next two
decades, he moved his family 12 times--twice overseas. At 50, he was president of
a large financial services firm in New York City. He owned a restored Georgian in
a leafy suburb, a ski chalet in Telluride and a small compound in the Caribbean.
He traveled for work incessantly, with limousines and Gulfstreams at his beck and
call. His board connections led to bids at the most exclusive golf clubs. Peter
had become a bona-fide world beater. Then, one day, his wife of 30 years declared:
"I don't love you anymore. I need a new life." His kids piled on, saying he'd
never "been there" for them. After logging three-quarters of each year on the
road, Peter realized he had no real friends to confide in. He got divorced,
drank heavily and eventually left his job. Peter's net worth had crossed
the eight-figure mark years before his life unraveled. He could have hopped off
the hamster wheel with plenty of time and riches to spare. And yet he kept
running. "[That behavior] is rampant," says psychologist Robert Mintz, founder
of New Executive Strategies...
Read the article. Back to top
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The Buck Stopped Here
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| The Destination Straddling the Spokane River, Post Falls is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. |
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"Uprooting a company is a tough, tough thing to go through. You're uprooting families." |
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Soaring business costs in California were driving Buck Knives to the brink.
The company regained its edge by dismantling its factory--and putting it back
together 1,453 miles away.
Rising out of the snow-dusted fields like a gargantuan block of Post-it notes,
the Buck Knives factory in the Idaho panhandle looks for all the world like a
Northwest native. From the basalt columns adorning the driveway to the moose
trophy gazing implacably down on the lobby and the spectacular chandelier built
of antlers, the building feels like it belongs here, where the unyielding prairie
of the Columbia Plateau confronts the chill hauteur of the Selkirk Mountains.
Boomtowns 2006
The most promising cities for entrepreneurs?
In our most detailed survey yet, we looked at
393 regional economies to pinpoint where business
is surging. Yuma, Arizona, here we come...
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Appearances can be deceiving, however. Depending on how you look at it, Buck Knives
is a transplant, a refugee, or a pilgrim from southern California. The story of how
Buck moved its knife manufacturing company from the dusty, sun-drenched hills of
El Cajon to this rugged patch of Idaho turf is a case study in business relocation.
If it's true that geography is destiny, then Buck's voyage demonstrates that you
can shape your destiny if you're willing to redraw your geography...
Read the article. Back to top
Making Your (Power) Point
Presentations don't have to be a bore.
Here are six new ways to liven them up. The only thing worse than sitting through
a boring PowerPoint presentation is delivering one. Yet death by PowerPoint may be
one of the biggest risks of doing business. On any given day, some 30 million
PowerPoint presentations are delivered, according to Microsoft. Of course, when
it was released for Windows in 1990, the software was an exciting new way of
presenting information. But that's not always the case today. Among the most
common offenses: Speakers simply read the slides to the audience; the text is
too small; the color and animation are dull; the charts are too complex.
Technology got us into this mess; now, technology is working hard to get us out.
There are scores of new products designed to enhance, or even replace, PowerPoint.
Some cost thousands, others are free. Here are six offerings that can help make
your next presentation less of a snooze and more of a blockbuster. ...
Read the article. Back to top
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Building a Platform for Growth
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| Sometimes building growth
in mature industries means more than simple product
extensions or acquisitions. The answer? Develop
"growth platforms" that extend your business into
new domains. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review. | |
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These executives typically had a sense of curiosity,
an external focus, and authority to act.
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Researchers at Harvard Business School and INSEAD helped Boston-based
consulting firm Oyster International study how executives of twenty-four
successful companies achieved organic growth over time. The answer: by creating
"new growth platforms, on which they could build families of products, services,
and businesses and extend their capabilities into multiple new domains." United
Parcel Service is a prime example, as it expanded from a small-parcel delivery
service into a variety of high-growth areas, including managing the flow of goods
for customers. This excerpt reveals the common characteristics of companies
that successfully built new growth platforms.
UPS is not the only company that explicitly looks for platforms rather than
products. Originally, Medtronic was highly focused on pacemakers, but under former
CEO Bill George and current CEO Art Collins, it has leveraged its market knowledge
and capabilities to establish broad platforms for products assisting in the
treatment of cardiovascular, neurological, and spinal diseases, as well as
diabetes. Branded consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble has also cottoned
on to the platform concept...
Read the article. Back to top
Five Guidelines for Using Statistics
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| Do statistics tell the entire story? Managers must
make effective use of the numbers they generate.
Here are five tips to help ensure that you can
rely on the numbers. | |
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The only way to have confidence in the hypothetical course of action is to prove [that] the assumed causal connections do indeed hold.
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Are defect rates declining? Is customer satisfaction rising? You inspect
the numbers, but you're not sure whether to believe them. It isn't that you fear
fraud or manipulation, it's that you don't know how much faith to put in statistics.
You're right to be cautious. "The actual statistical calculations represent only
5 percent of the manager's work," says Frances Frei, an assistant professor at
Harvard Business School who teaches two-day statistics seminars to corporate
managers. "The other 95 percent should be spent determining the right calculations
and interpreting the results." Here are some guidelines for using
statistics effectively, derived from Frei's seminar and other sources. Although
the perspectives offered here won't qualify you to be a high-powered
statistical analyst, they will help you decide what to ask of the analysts
whose numbers you rely on...
Read the article. Back to top
Low Prices = More Customers? Not Always
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| Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines,
and Dell Computer are famous for their low prices.
But before you follow their lead, consider the
downside of cutting prices. An excerpt from the new
book Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share. | |
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The burden of proof must rest with the
advocates of the price cut
or loyalty incentive.
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By arguing against price cuts as a form of competitive reaction when you perceive
a competitive threat, we hope to convince you to plan your responses more carefully
and consciously by thinking through the consequences first. In some situations,
your competitor may force you to make this decision, because it has cut prices
itself or entered your market at a much lower price point.
But in other situations, companies decide to cut prices voluntarily, with no
prompting from competitors and—as we show in this section—hardly any prompting
from customers either. They decide to cut their prices out of sheer devotion to
the idea that lower prices will revive their customers' wavering devotion and
ultimately make the company better off. To defend the cuts, they cite changes
in the competitive landscape, the convictions of upper management, a willingness
to share cost savings and productivity improvements with customers, and the passage
in their Economics 101 textbook that said lower prices result in higher volumes.
Because price cuts seem to offer the easiest way to lavish special treatment
on customers, companies find the temptation hard to resist. But resist they
should. Proactive price cuts ...
Read the article. Back to top
Moving Beyond Debate: Start a Dialogue
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| We’re often surrounded by polarizing debates. Here’s
what influential leaders know: Dialogue doesn’t
seek closure as debates do, but rather discovers
new options. An excerpt from Leading Through
Conflict by professional mediator Mark Gerzon. | |
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"I never saw an instance of one or two disputants convincing the other by argument." —Thomas Jefferson
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As I worked in more than a hundred organizations or communities over the
past decade, I kept track of which form of discourse my clients most often wanted.
They did not want more speeches and presentations. They did not want more
debates between two know-it-alls, each of whom was sure they were right and the
other person was wrong. They did not want yet another "exchange of views" that
skirted difficult issues and papered over problems. What they yearned for was
deep, honest, inclusive, and respectful dialogue. Dialogue is designed for
situations in which people have fundamentally different frames of reference
(also called worldviews, belief systems, mindsets, or "mental models").
"Ordinary conversation presupposes shared frameworks," says Daniel Yankelovich,
who has been a pioneer in analyzing public opinion for the past quarter century.
Dialogue makes just the opposite assumption: It assumes that the participants
have different frameworks. The purpose of dialogue is to create communication
across the border that separates them. It is a way of conversing that...
Read the article. Back to top
Four Strategies for Making Concessions
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| "Concessions are often necessary
in negotiation," says HBS professor Deepak Malhotra.
"But they often go unappreciated and unreciprocated."
Here he explains four strategies for building good will
and reciprocity. From Negotiation. | |
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The strategy of
demanding and defining reciprocity
plays out in a variety of contexts...
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Most people understand that negotiation is a matter of give-and-take: You have to
be willing to make concessions to get concessions in return.
But the process of making concessions is easier said than done. Consider how
events unfolded in the following management-union negotiation, adapted from Richard
E. Walton and Robert B. McKersie's book A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations:
An Analysis of a Social Interaction System (ILR Press, 1991).The head of a
manufacturing firm was preparing to initiate talks with the leadership of the
employees' union. The biggest issue on the table was a wage increase. The union
was asking for a 4 percent increase, while management wanted to raise salaries by
only 1 percent.The executive considered the situation. During past negotiations,
weeks were lost as each side jockeyed for position, feigned willingness to walk
away, and eventually compromised on an unsurprising outcome. In this case, a deal
at 2.5 percent, the midpoint of the two parties' opening positions, seemed likely
to be agreeable to both sides. This time things would be different, he resolved.
He would save everyone hassle and delay by making concessions early. Against the
advice of the mediator, he opened discussions by announcing that the eventual
outcome was obvious and that he was prepared to make a final offer: 3 percent, the
most he could have offered...
Read the article. Back to top
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Try Before You Buy
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Companies are using alliances to take the risk out of acquisitions.
When Andreas Mueller-Schubert decided to move his company into the home
entertainment business, he knew he would have to buy another company to do it.
His company, Siemens Communications's Fixed Network Solutions, provides
broadband Internet service providers with the array of add-ons (such as
Internet telephone service) they use to attract new subscribers. By 2003,
customers were asking about a new technology: television service piped over
the Internet, known as IPTV. Mueller-Schubert, president of the Siemens division,
began searching for promising acquisition targets. He soon found one: Myrio, a
Bothell, Washington-based start-up with software that enables the various features
of IPTV, such as video on demand. "This kind of middleware is the brain of
the solution," says Mueller-Schubert. "If you want to be a leader in this market,
it's a strategic asset you have to own." But buying a start-up in the high-tech
business is risky. Technology changes fast, and companies often discover too late
that they've placed the wrong bet. The target's products may not work well with
the buyer's products. And, of course, fitting sometimes eccentric entrepreneurs
into a large bureaucracy may prove futile. Siemens's answer was to hedge...
Read the article. Back to top
What's the Boss Worth?
CFOs weigh in on executive compensation.
This year's proxy season prompted the usual complaint about CEO pay: it's way
too high. But finance executives don't see it that way. In a survey of more
than 100 finance executives at the March CFO Rising conference, only 34 percent
said that their bosses are overpaid. In fact, one quarter think their CEOs earn
too little and another 43 percent say the compensation hits the mark. Of
course, finance executives may not be the most impartial judges. Many think that
the issue isn't CEO compensation per se as much as the discrepancy in pay between
the CEO and — you guessed it — the CFO...
Read the article. Back to top
Flirting with Disaster Recovery
There are plenty of good reasons to develop a business-continuity plan, but is Sarbox one of them?
Mention business continuity to CFOs and see how long it takes them to change
the subject. Yes, it's a risk issue, and they'll readily agree it demands
attention. Just not theirs. Typically, business continuity, which
includes contingencies for business interruptions ranging from telecom outages
to natural disasters to, perhaps, terrorist attacks, is seen as a technology issue.
In fact, in a 2005 survey of 1,286 managers claiming responsibility for
their employers' business-continuity plans, the bulk of the respondents were
either IT managers, tech staffers, or chief information officers. That may
be changing...
Read the article. Back to top
Binomial Creep
Although most companies still use Black-Scholes to value their stock options, a small but growing number are finding good reason to employ a more complicated valuation model.
When CFOs willingly take on a heavier workload, something's up. Between 1995 and
2004, a grand total of just 68 companies that offered stock options to their
employees switched from the traditional Black-Scholes model to a more
complicated binomial valuation method. Black-Scholes is still far more
prevalent; according to Aon Consulting, only 308 companies now use a
binomial methodology, out of some 17,000 U.S. public companies in all. Aon
observes, however, that last year alone, 134 companies switched from Black-Scholes
to binomial, and so far this year, another 106 have made the transition. The
binomial method is being embraced thanks, in part, to a search for lower
stock-option valuations, says Charlie Stryker, a managing director with
Trenwith Valuation. In 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued FAS
123R, which requires most public companies to expense stock options. Once those
pro forma figures were slated for the balance sheet, many companies began looking
into spending additional time and money on a model that would yield a
lower stock-option valuation — and less of a hit to earnings...
Read the article. Back to top
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Has Advertising Killed Itself?
Video killed the radio star." Maybe that's true, but I'm not really sure. I am
pretty sure, however, that advertising killed itself—or, at the very least, took
the wind out of its own sails.
Advertising used to work, and work well. What do I mean by "work?" I mean that
once upon a time, when products and services of obvious differentiated quality
and value were popping up like weeds in a field, consumers were predisposed to
believe advertising claims, both overt and subtle. Since belief leads to action,
sales of those advertised goods increased as well. Heinz's relish was, in the
mind of the consumer, a perceivable improvement over generic relish. Sensory
evidence—a full jar, no grit to chew, consistent texture and taste—proved it out.
The same was true for many other modern wonders of the American age of mass
production: the radio, telephone, automobile, television, instant cake mix,
washing machine, dishwasher, air conditioner, etc. They were special products
that, in fact, improved people's lives. During those heady marketing times,
consumers were predisposed—based on past experience (AKA memory)—to endorse and
thereby become behaviorally susceptible to advertising's representational content.
Times were indeed very good for advertising, as well they should have been.
Then something happened...
Read the article. Back to top
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2006 Career and Compensation Survey
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Gary Ellis's long-term commitment to broadening his skills and experience as
a finance professional was rewarded a year ago when he was named senior vice
president and CFO of Minneapolis-based Medtronic. But fewer talented finance
managers are choosing to emulate his steady, 16-year rise through the ranks of
the medical technology company's finance function. Lucrative opportunities
for short-term rewards in the corporate world are tempting these managers to
forgo crucial development experiences, suggest the results of Business Finance's
annual Finance Executive Career & Compensation Survey.
People are jumping ship from the top accounting firms faster than they did
before," says Neil S. Lebovits, president and COO of Ajilon Finance, a firm
that provides managed services for professional staffing in Saddle Brook, N.J.
And fewer CPAs enter the client side through the internal audit department,
which traditionally served as a proving ground where new finance professionals
learned the company, established relationships throughout the organization and
gained management training. "A lot of money is being offered for other
finance positions that are higher in demand," Lebovits points out. "They don't
need that internal-audit entry point when so many glamorous companies are
offering wonderful jobs. Many younger finance professionals are looking more at
the short-term dollars than at what's best for their long-term career prospects."
Those high-paying jobs tend to be compliance-related -- anything with
internal controls, compliance or Sarbanes-Oxley in the title...
Read the article. Back to top
Asset-Based Lending Goes Mainstream
If you've assumed that asset-based lending is used only by companies in
financial trouble, think again. Consider Chicago-based Hartmarx Corp., the
manufacturer and marketer of 40-plus brands of men's and women's apparel,
including such iconic names as Hart Schaffner Marx and Hickey-Freeman. For
the past four years, the company has made a $200 million asset-based revolving
line of credit its primary credit facility. The loan, from Wachovia Capital Finance,
is secured by Hartmarx's accounts receivable and inventory. "It makes sense
because we're borrowing based on a specific need," says Glenn Morgan, executive
vice president and CFO with the $600 million company. Hartmarx's inventory
and receivables balances peak toward the end of summer as retailers begin
stocking their shelves for the holiday season. Because the loan amount available
is tied to the level of these assets, the company can adjust its borrowings as
its inventory and receivables increase and decrease. Although Hartmarx probably
could switch to a more traditional cash-flow loan, Morgan isn't planning to
move. "We're satisfied with this facility. It's competitive in terms of the
interest rate and terms," he says.
Hartmarx isn't the only mainstream organization that's using asset-based lending.
Other household names, including Goodyear and Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC, also have
used it in the past several years. According to the Commercial Finance Association,
the total outstanding monthly average of asset-based loans jumped from $117 billion
to $362 billion between 1994 and 2004...
Read the article. Back to top
CRM Climbs to Higher Ground
A Roadmap for BPM Software Selection
At The BPM Summit last November, panelists from three
companies shared their experiences of selecting and
implementing business performance management software.
Here are the best practices that emerged.
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The customer may be king, but somewhere between rhetoric and reality, most
organizations have discovered that courting and keeping customers is a royal pain.
Over the last decade, global competition, downward pressure on profit margins, and
easy access to product information and pricing for competitors and consumers have
made it increasingly difficult for companies to achieve that goal.
As a result, many organizations have turned to customer relationship management
(CRM) systems not only to provide a technology foundation and business framework
for managing complex tasks and to help them become more efficient and profitable,
but also to maintain customer loyalty. Unfortunately, on their road to CRM
success, they have often taken a few detours. "Too often, organizations
haven't connected data to real-world practices," says Greg Comrie, senior
vice president of solutions delivery at AGSI, a consulting firm headquartered
in Atlanta. To avoid that problem, many companies are combining the operational
and analytic sides of CRM to create a more sophisticated and holistic view of
the enterprise. The two aspects traditionally have been used separately;
the operational side relies on call centers and sales force automation (SFA)
while analytics taps into existing business data. But together they're ushering
in new opportunities and possibilities for predictive modeling,
cross-selling, marketing and more...
Read the article. Back to top
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Getting your body beach-ready
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Roy Morsch / Corbis file
For looking buff on the beach, it's essential to strength-train.
Building muscle will give you a toned body and help minimize jiggle.
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Strategies to help you slim down for swimsuit season.
It's May already and swimsuit season is just around the corner. Maybe you meant
to start getting in shape sooner (like back in January) but it didn't happen. So
now you're wondering how to get results — and fast.The good news is that you can
slim down and shape up in as little as four to eight weeks. The question is how much.
"It depends where you're at now," says Jay Blahnik, a personal trainer in Laguna
Beach, Calif., and a spokesperson for the IDEA Health and Fitness Association. If
you're hoping to lose 50 pounds in eight weeks, it's not going to happen. Eight or
10 pounds is more like it. "Have realistic expectations," Blahnik says.
Health experts say you can safely lose up to two pounds a week. So in eight weeks,
you could lose as many as 16 pounds. But that's a fairly aggressive weight-loss goal.
A more modest — and probably doable — approach is to lose a pound a week, experts
say. And even that could significantly alter your beach body. "In eight weeks, 8
pounds could make a big difference in how a swimsuit looks on you," says Cynthia Sass,
a registered dietitian and personal trainer in Tampa, Fla., and a spokesperson for
the American Dietetic Association...
Read the article. Back to top
When society gets in the way of sexuality
Culture clashes with human nature in the strangest of ways.
Nobody doubts that our culture influences our sexuality and sexual expression.
Germany seems to be a hotbed of pantyhose fetish Web sites, Japan has raised
the schoolgirl uniform to high art, and male parliamentarians getting spanked
can sometimes seem as British as high tea at Harrods. But our cultural influences
are not always good for us. That’s part of the “moral values” debate we’ve been
having in this country for 20 years or so. The question is, what can we do to keep
the culture from harming us? How can we resist the worst bits of it, and embrace
the best? While reading through some research on sex recently, one of the studies
I encountered popped out at me. It raised the question “What is the problem with
sex?” Sex is one of the most basic and fulfilling things we do. At least it should
be. Assuming we’re not suffering from biological or health trouble, sex is a
problem only when it clashes with the culture we’re in. Sometimes these clashes
can be personally dramatic. Last fall, in a psychiatric journal, British researcher
and clinician Nilamadhab Kar described the cases of two men...
Read the article. Back to top
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